Comparison · Privacy-friendly analytics
MetricRaven vs Plausible: Plausible alternative
Plausible facts last checked · sources
Plausible is one of the best-known privacy-friendly alternatives to Google Analytics: a lightweight script, no cookies, a one-page dashboard, and an open-source edition you can host yourself. MetricRaven shares the simple-dashboard idea but is built around a different question: which channels bring paying customers?
The main difference is revenue. Plausible tracks revenue as custom events you send from your checkout, on its Business plan. MetricRaven connects to Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle and other providers directly on every plan, imports payment history and credits each payment to the visit that first brought the customer.
Quick comparison
| Feature | MetricRaven | Plausible |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Founders who want revenue per channel out of the box | Teams who want simple, EU-hosted, open-source analytics |
| Free trial | 14 days, no card | 30 days, no card |
| Entry price | $9/month for 10k events | $9/month for 10k pageviews (Starter) |
| Revenue | Connect your payment provider; every plan | Revenue goals you send yourself; Business plan |
| Funnels | Every plan | Business plan |
| Self-hosting | No | Yes, Community Edition (AGPL) |
Pricing compared
Plausible has three self-serve plans priced by monthly pageviews. At 10k pageviews, Starter is $9, Growth is $14 and Business is $19 a month; at 100k they're $19, $29 and $39. Revenue attribution, funnels and custom properties are on Business. Yearly billing gives two months free, and the trial is 30 days.
MetricRaven prices by events (pageviews, goals and payments): Starter is $9 a month for 10k and $19 for 100k, Growth $19 and $39. Revenue attribution, funnels, goals and AI crawler reports are on both plans; Growth adds more websites and team members (pricing).
Choose MetricRaven if
- You want revenue per channel, referrer and campaign without writing revenue events by hand (attribute Stripe revenue).
- You want funnels that end in a real payment, on the entry plan.
- You want to see which AI crawlers read your pages, not only human visits (AI crawlers).
- You want GitHub commits on your traffic chart to see which release moved the numbers.
Choose Plausible if
- You need your analytics provider to be EU-owned and EU-hosted.
- You want open-source software you can self-host.
- You only need traffic numbers and a very small script, with no payment data.
- You want no data retention limit, which Plausible lists on its plans.
What Plausible does well
- Simplicity and speed. A one-page dashboard anyone on the team can read, and a script Plausible says is 54 times smaller than Google Analytics'.
- Privacy and location. No cookies and no persistent identifiers, made and hosted in the EU on European-owned infrastructure.
- Open source. Plausible Community Edition is AGPL-licensed and can be self-hosted, though funnels and revenue goals stay in the cloud version.
- AI assistant traffic. An AI Assistants channel groups referrals from ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot and ties them to conversions.
- Useful extras: Search Console queries, Google Analytics import, annotations, automatic scroll depth, file download and outbound link tracking.
What MetricRaven does well
- Payments connected, not typed in. Read-only connections to Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle, Polar, RevenueCat and others, including refunds and subscriptions.
- Revenue everywhere. Channels, referrers, campaigns, pages, countries and devices can be sorted by revenue, and Search Console keywords show estimated revenue.
- AI crawler reports. See requests from GPTBot, ClaudeBot, ChatGPT-User and others, by page, plus robots.txt and llms.txt fetches. They don't count toward your events.
- Developer tools: an MCP server, a CLI, a REST API and GitHub commit markers.
How to try MetricRaven next to Plausible
- Start a 14-day trial; no card is needed.
- Add the MetricRaven script alongside Plausible's (install).
- Connect your payment provider, for example Stripe, and import your payment history.
- Pass the visitor ID into your checkout so new payments are attributed (Stripe Checkout).
- After a week, compare visitor counts, then check revenue per channel, which Plausible shows only with revenue goals.
Feature comparison
| Feature | MetricRaven | Plausible |
|---|---|---|
| Payment provider connections | Yes. 8 providers plus an API | Needs setup. Send revenue goals from your checkout |
| Revenue by channel and campaign | Yes. Every plan | Yes. Business plan |
| Funnels | Yes. Every plan | Yes. Business plan |
| Goals and custom events | Yes | Yes |
| Google Search Console | Yes | Yes |
| AI assistant referrals | Partly. Listed as referrers | Yes. Dedicated channel |
| AI crawler reports | Yes | No. Bots are filtered out |
| Chart annotations | Yes. Notes and GitHub commits | Yes. Manual notes |
| Proxy to beat ad blockers | Yes. Self-hosted recipes | Yes. Self-hosted guides; managed on Enterprise |
| No cookies before consent | Yes | Yes. No cookies at all |
| EU hosting | Not verified | Yes |
| Open source / self-host | No | Yes |
| MCP server | Yes | Partly. Community-built, not official |
“Needs setup” means it can be done with extra work, such as custom code, a third-party tool or a self-built integration. “Not verified” means we couldn't confirm it from Plausible's public pages.
Verdict
Plausible is excellent if you want clean traffic numbers, EU hosting and open source, and you don't need payment data. It has earned its reputation.
If the question you keep asking is "which channel actually makes money?", MetricRaven answers it with less setup: connect your payment provider and revenue appears next to every source, on every plan. Run both for a week to see which dashboard you open more.
Frequently asked questions
Is MetricRaven cheaper than Plausible?
At the entry level they cost the same: $9 a month for 10k. MetricRaven counts events (pageviews, goals and payments) while Plausible counts pageviews. Revenue attribution and funnels are on every MetricRaven plan, and on Plausible's Business plan, which starts at $19 a month.
Can MetricRaven import my Plausible history?
No, there is no Plausible import today. Your payment history can be imported from your payment provider, but past visits start counting when you install the MetricRaven script.
Does MetricRaven track visits from ChatGPT and Perplexity?
Yes. Visitors who click through from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and similar sites appear as referrers with their revenue. Plausible groups them into a dedicated AI Assistants channel. MetricRaven also reports the AI crawlers themselves, which Plausible filters out.
Sources and method
Plausible details come from its public website on Nov 2, 2026. Prices and features change, so check Plausible's site before deciding. MetricRaven details come from our pricing and docs. Spotted something out of date? Email support@metricraven.com.
- Homepage, pricing and plans: plausible.io/
- Ecommerce revenue tracking: plausible.io/docs/ecommerce-revenue-tracking
- Google Search Console: plausible.io/google-search-console
- Track AI traffic: plausible.io/track-ai-traffic
- Proxy introduction: plausible.io/docs/proxy/introduction
- Annotations: plausible.io/docs/annotations
- Self-hosted (Community Edition): plausible.io/self-hosted-web-analytics
- Accessing your data (API, MCP): plausible.io/docs/data-access